Transcript

044 - Our Book-Shelf · Reviews

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Speaker 1: Section forty three of reviews by Oscar Wilde. This is
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Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: This reading by Carl Manchester, two thousand seven. Reviews by
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Speaker 1: Oscar Wilde, edited by Robert Ross, Section forty three Our
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Speaker 1: book Shelf, pal Mar Gazette, April twelfth, eighteen eighty seven.
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Speaker 1: The Master of Tanagra is certainly one of Ernst von
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Speaker 1: Wildenbrook's most delightful productions. It presents an exceedingly pretty picture
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Speaker 1: of the bright external side of ancient Greek life, and
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Speaker 1: tells how a handsome young Tanagrion left his home for
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Speaker 1: the sake of art and returned to it for love's sake.
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Speaker 1: An old story, no doubt, but one which gains a
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Speaker 1: new charm from its new setting. The historical characters of
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Speaker 1: the book, such as Praxiteles and Phrena, seem somehow less
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Speaker 1: real than those that are purely imaginary, but this is
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Speaker 1: usually the case in all novels that would recreate the
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Speaker 1: past for us, and is a form of penalty that
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Speaker 1: Romance has often to pay when she tries to blend
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Speaker 1: fact with fancy, and to turn the great personages of
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Speaker 1: history into puppets for a little play. The translation, which
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Speaker 1: is from the pen of the Baroness von Lauer, reads
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Speaker 1: very pleasantly, and some of the illustrations are good, though
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Speaker 1: it is impossible to reproduce by any process the delicate
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Speaker 1: and exquisite charm of the Tanagra figurines. Monsieur Paul Statfort,
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Speaker 1: in his book Moliere e Shikespiere, shows very clearly that
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Speaker 1: the French have not yet forgiven Schlegel for having threatened that,
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Speaker 1: as a reprisal for the atrocities committed by Napoleon, he
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Speaker 1: would prove that Moliere was no poet. Indeed, Monsieur Stapfer,
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Speaker 1: while admitting that one should be fair on vere tou
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Speaker 1: le monde meme envers less Allemande, charges down upon the
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Speaker 1: German critics with the brilliancy and dash of a French cuirassier,
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Speaker 1: and mocks at them for their dulness at the very
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Speaker 1: moment that he is an ane their erudition, an achievement
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Speaker 1: for which the French genius is justly renowned. As for
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Speaker 1: the relative merits of Moliere and Shakespeare, Missie Stapfor has
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Speaker 1: no hesitation in placing the author of Limysanthrope by the
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Speaker 1: side of the author of Hamlet. Shakespeare's comedies seem to
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Speaker 1: him somewhat wilful and fantastic. He prefers Orgon and Tartufe
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Speaker 1: to Oberon and Titania, and can hardly forgive Beatrice for
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Speaker 1: having been quote born to speak all mirth and no
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Speaker 1: matter end quote. Perhaps he hardly realizes that it is
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Speaker 1: as a poet, not as a playwright, that we love
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Speaker 1: Shakespeare in England, and that Ariel singing by the yellow sands,
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Speaker 1: or fairies hiding in a wood near Athens, may be
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Speaker 1: as real as Alceste in his wooing of Celaman, and
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Speaker 1: as true as Harpagon weeping for his money box. Still,
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Speaker 1: his book is full of interesting suggestion. Many of his
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Speaker 1: remarks on literature are quite excellent, and his style has
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Speaker 1: the qualities of grace to distinction and ease of movement.
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Speaker 1: Not so much can be said for Annals of the
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Speaker 1: Life of Shakespeare, which is a dull, though well meaning
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Speaker 1: little book. What we do not know about Shakespeare is
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Speaker 1: a most fascinating subject, and one that would fill a volume.
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Speaker 1: But what we do know about him is so meager
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Speaker 1: and inadequate, that when it is collected together, the result
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Speaker 1: is rather depressing. However, there are many people, no doubt,
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Speaker 1: who find a great source of interest in the fact
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Speaker 1: that the author of The Merchant of Venice once brought
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Speaker 1: an action for the sum of one pound, fifteen shillings
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Speaker 1: and ten pence and gained his suit. And for these
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Speaker 1: this volume will have considerable charm. It is a pity
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Speaker 1: that the finest line ben Johnson ever wrote about Shakespeare
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Speaker 1: should be misquoted at the very beginning of the book,
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Speaker 1: and the illustration of Shakespeare's monument gives the inscription very badly. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: also it was ben Jonson's stepfather, not his father in law,
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Speaker 1: as stated, who was the bricklayer. But it is quite
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Speaker 1: useless to dwell upon these things, as nobody nowadays seems
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Speaker 1: to have any time either to correct proofs or to
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Speaker 1: consult authorities. One of the most pleasing volumes that has
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Speaker 1: appeared as yet in the Canterbury series is the collection
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Speaker 1: of Alan Ramsey's poems. Ramsey, whose profession was the making
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Speaker 1: of periwigs and whose pleasure was the making of poetry,
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Speaker 1: is always delightful reading, except when he tries to write
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Speaker 1: English and to imitate Pope. His Gentle Shepherd is a
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Speaker 1: charming pastoral play, full of humour and romance, his vision
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Speaker 1: as a good deal of natural fire, and some of
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Speaker 1: his songs, such as the Yellowhaed Laddie and the Lass
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Speaker 1: of Patty's Mill, might rank beside those of Burns. The
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Speaker 1: preface to this attractive little edition is from the pen
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Speaker 1: of mister J. LOGI. Robertson, and the simple, straightforward style
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Speaker 1: in which it is written contrasts favourably with the silly,
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Speaker 1: pompous manner affected by so many of the other editors
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Speaker 1: of the series. Ramsay's life is worth telling well, and
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Speaker 1: mister Robertson tells it well and gives us a really
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Speaker 1: capital picture of Edinburgh society in the early half of
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Speaker 1: the last century. Dante for Beginners, by Miss Arabella Shaw
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Speaker 1: is a sort of literary guide book. What Virgil was
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Speaker 1: to the great Florentine, Miss Shaw would be to the
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Speaker 1: British public, and her modest little volume can do no
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Speaker 1: possible harm to Dante, which is more than one can
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Speaker 1: say of many commentaries on the Divine comedy. Miss Phillimore's
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Speaker 1: studies in Italian literature is a much more elaborate work
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Speaker 1: and displays a good deal of erudition. Indeed, the erudition
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Speaker 1: is sometimes displayed a little too much, and we should
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Speaker 1: like to see the lead of learning transmuted more often
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Speaker 1: into the gold of thought. The essays on Petrarch and
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Speaker 1: Tasso are tedious, but those on Aliardi and counter river
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Speaker 1: Bene are excellent. Particularly the former Aliardi was a poet
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Speaker 1: of wonderful descriptive power, and though, as he said himself,
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Speaker 1: he subordinated his love of poetry to his love of country,
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Speaker 1: yet in such service he found perfect freedom. The article
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Speaker 1: on Eduardo Fusco also is full of interest, and is
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Speaker 1: a timely tribute to the memory of one who did
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Speaker 1: so much for the education and culture of modern Italy.
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Speaker 1: On the whole the book is well worth reading. So
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Speaker 1: well worth reading, indeed, that we hope that the foolish
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Speaker 1: remarks on the Greek drama will be amended in a
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Speaker 1: second edition, or which would be better still struck out. Altogether,
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Speaker 1: they show a want of knowledge that must be the
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Speaker 1: result of years of study. One The Master of Tanagra,
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Speaker 1: translated from the German of Ernst von Wildenbruck by the
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Speaker 1: Baroness von Lauer H Grevelyn Co. Two Moliere Eshikespire by
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Speaker 1: Paul Stafford Haschet, Three Annals of the Life of Shakespeare Sampson,
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Speaker 1: Low Marston and Co. Four poems by Alan Ramsay selected
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Speaker 1: and arranged with a biographical sketch of the poet by J.
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Speaker 1: Logi Robertson. M A Canterbury Poets Walter Scott. Five Dante
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Speaker 1: for Beginners by Arabella Shaw, Chapman and Hall. Six Studies
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Speaker 1: in Italian Literature by Miss Phillimore, Sampson, Low Marston and Co.
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Speaker 1: End of Section forty three